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George F. Driggers, Jr.
Date of Birth: June 12, 1960
Date of Death: December 26, 1976
ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY
FALLEN FIREFIGHTER
NAME: George F. Driggers, Jr. AGE: 16
RANK: FIREFIGHTER BADGE #: NA
STATION: Ferndale Volunteer Fire Company Station #34
DATE OF DEATH: December 26, 1976
CIRCUMSTANCES OF DEATH: While fighting a row house fire in Brooklyn Park on December 26th, Firefighter Driggers was caught in a back draft. He suffered severe burns and died at the scene. He was found during overhaul inside the residence. Firefighter Patrick A. Bauer died on December 27, 1976, also as a result of this fire.
BURIAL LOCATION: Meadowridge Cemetery – 7250 Washington Blvd., Elkridge, MD 21076 (Howard County adc map 17_B-11). Garden of Eternal Love, near back right corner, beside Funeral Home.
Notes: Articles – Baltimore Sun December 27,28, 1976
Evening Capital December 27,28,29, 1976
PLAQUES, MEMORIALS, DEDICATIONS, ETC.:
- Plaque and Picture hanging on Memorial Wall in the hall foyer at the Ferndale Station.
- Maryland Fire and Rescue Memorial, Annapolis, MD
- Anne Arundel County Fallen Firefighters Memorial, Millersville
- Waugh Chapel Station #5 dedicated to Firefighter Bauer, Firefighter Driggers, and Assistant Chief Tucker.
Article Baltimore Sun December 27, 1976
Volunteer Fireman, 16, dies fighter Anne Arundel Fire
A 16 year-old Brooklyn Park youth who fulfilled a childhood ambition by becoming a volunteer firefighter died early yesterday in a burning Anne Arundel County row house.
George F. Driggers, Jr. died of severe burns as he attempted to enter the house to fight the blaze according to fire officials.
Critically injured in the same fire was Patrick A. Bauer, 21, a paid Anne Arundel County firefighter.
Fire officials slowly pieced together the circumstances of the death yesterday, hampered by the fact they said that few people actually saw what happened. They said the teenager was killed in a sudden backdraft that sent flames roaring through the building.
Officials said they believed the fire may have been caused by a faulty furnace.
There were a least three other fire deaths in the area over the weekend and in addition, the Harundale Presbyterian Church at Eastway and Guildford road in Glen Burnie was damaged by fire officials said the fire destroyed the study at the church. The cause of that fire was not known, officials said.
The young firefighter’s father, George F. Driggers, Sr., said his son had wanted to be a firefighter since he was a little boy.
Last night, the dead youngster’s parents sobbed as they watched a news broadcast of the fire at their home.
His stepbrother, Darryl Myers, 16, said the teenager “just couldn’t wait” to become a firefighter.
The youth joined a volunteer fire company last summer, his stepbrother said, riding the engine for the first time “the night of his 16th birthday.”
Harry J. Klasmeier, Jr, the Anne Arundel County Fire Chief, said the county allowed teenagers who are 16 – 18 years of age to join volunteer companies with the permission of their parents.
Fire officials said volunteers are required to take a training course within a year of joining a company. But the victim’s stepbrother said the youngster had not taken the training.
Asked why a 10th grader was allowed to participate in the risky business of fighting fires, Chief Klasmeier compared to fighting a war.
He said the county had lowered the age for volunteers when the military draft took older volunteers and companies found themselves shorthanded.
Chief Klasmeier said information gathered yesterday from the 60 firefighters who responded to the three-alarm row house blaze indicated the youngster was killed in a backdraft, a flaming explosion caused by a combination of explosive gases, high heat, and fresh air
Chief Klasmeir said a group of firfighters had gone into the building to try to direct water into the basement of the two story building. He said they were only about 10 to 15 feet into the house when a ball of flame shot up through the house.
Asked if they had taken an unusual chance in going into the house, Chief Klasmeier said, “I couldn’t accuse anyone of doing that.
He said the firemen may have thought someone was trapped in the building owned by Charles Kunkle, but no one was inside at the time. The Chief said that it was well ventilated with all the windows removed to let explosive gases like carbon monoxide escape.
A 52 year-old man died in another fire in Northwest Baltimore on Christmas night. Police said, Moses McFadden died of smoke inhalation as fire swept a gust house in the 3400 block of Fairview Avenue.
The fire which started at 9:30 P.M. left the GG Guest Home uninhabitable according to a police report.
The fire started, police said, in Mr. McFadden’s bedroom. He was found in the front room of the second story.
Fire officials surmised that he had tried to make an escape through the front of the three story building had tripped and was knocked unconscious.
Tow residents of the home were treated for exposure to the cold night and police said, they and four other residents were made homeless.
In another Christmas fire. Pauline Swain, 52, died when she plunged from a second floor front window of her home in the 1600 block East Lanvale Street. An 8 year-old girl, Arnette Jones, was rescued from the same fire by an Eastern district police officer, George E. Singleton.
Fire officials said, Mrs. Swain’s body was found in front of the burning building.
Lawrence P. Hughes 81 also died early Christmas as flames swept through his home in the first block Caltriders Lane in Reisterstown.
Article Evening Capital December 27, 1976
Brooklyn Blaze Kills 2 Firemen
Volunteer ‘too young,’ chief says
By Doug Struck
A 16 year-old volunteer and a 21 year-old paid firemen were killed yesterday when they were trapped inside a Brooklyn row house by a wall of searing flames.
The men are George F. Driggers, Jr., a 10th grader at Brookly Park High School, and Patrick A. Bauer, 21.
They were engulfed in a sudden flare up of the fire while they manned a hose on the first floor of the burning house, according to fire officials. Several other firemen scrambled to safety or were pulled out by a fire chief.
Bauer lived until 8 a.m. this morning with burns over 58 percent of his body, according to a spokesman at the Shock-Trauma unit of University Hospital.
The fatal blaze had chased a family of four from their beds on Christmas night. An 8 year-old boy is in guarded condition this morning with head lacerations he suffered while jumping from a second-story window to escape the smoke.
Driggers, who had officially joined the Ferndale Volunteer Fire Company only about four months ago, “always wanted to be a fireman,” his father said this morning.
But the chief who directed the attack on the fire said the youth “didn’t belong inside that house. If we had had proper officers and proper control he wouldn’t have been.”
The fire broke out at 3:36 a.m. at 213 West Riverview Road, at a two-story structure that is the end unit of a string of Brooklyn rowhouses.
According to fire investigator Clyde Willis, a neighbor noticed smoke coming from the adjoining building, and began pounding on the door of the owner, Charles Kunkle.
Kunkle’s wife, Patricia, answered the knock in an apparent daze from the smoke, and the neighbor pulled her to safety, Willis said.
The rest of the family escaped from their second-story bedrooms. Kunkle crawled down an awning, his 15 year-old daughter Kathleen scaled down a gas and electric line, and 8 year-old Jeffery apparently jumped from his window.
LT. Donald Gibson and three other men from the Brooklyn Fire Company were the first to arrive. When they got there, Gibson said, “there were people screaming all over. Some people said the family was still inside, some said they were all out.”
Gibson took two men and a hose inside the building, and found the source of the fire at the steps leading to the basement.
Gibson said he told the men to hold their position, and he went back outside to get a backup hose and direct operation of other units arriving on scene.
As he was outside, “something happened,” Gibson said. “Firemen were running all over.” According to investigator Willis, gases from the combustion or from a ruptured gas line in the basement apparently caused a “flash back” a sudden searing wall of flames that shot up from the stairs.
Gibson ran into the blaze and pulled two men to safety. Several others ran out another door, he said.
“I crawled back in as far as I could go and yelled out,” Gibson said. “I didn’t know anyone else was in there.”
Bauer and Driggers were apparently disoriented by the flashback and Bauer struggled to a window. Other firemen heard his calls and dragged him from the building.
Gibson said no one knew Driggers was inside until they found his body about 20 minutes later.
A Third fireman Alan L. Bartlett, 18, also a volunteer in the Ferndale Company received burns and cuts in the incident, but was not hospitalized.
The blaze was finally extinguished at 5:36 a.m. after three alarms had been sounded.
Gibson said he did not know the other firemen had gone inside the building. “There are not enough officers at those fires,” Gibson said this morning. “If we had the officers, we could have been able to set up the units outside, and I could have been on the inside and control the situation there.” “You should have at least three lieutenants and a captain on those fires. We’ve been making do with two lieutenants, and it’s impossible. One has to run around from inside to outside and there’s no control. We’ve been getting away with it, but we didn’t get away with it this time, “ he said.
Gibson said if he had had enough control of the arriving units, he would not have let Driggers inside the building. “We know he didn’t have any training. He doesn’t belong inside the house. You don’t train someone at age 16. He was too young.”
Thomas C. Frasier, vice president of the Ferndale Volunteer Company, said Driggers had been given training at the company, but had not undergone the comprehensive training offered at Millersville fire headquarters. “It hadn’t been offered yet,” Frasier said. “He was going to take it at the next scheduled class.”
Frasier said there are two other 16 year-olds in the 35 member Ferndale company. They must have permission from their parents to join at that age, he said.
Bauer was a volunteer fireman at the Maryland City station until about 16 months ago, when he was hired by the county and sent to training school. When he completed training, he was assigned to the Odenton company.
Early yesterday he was transferred to the Brooklyn station as relief for other firemen working the rash of Christmas weekend fires.
County Executive Robert A. Pascal this morning ordered county flags flown at half-mast until the firemen are buried.
Funeral services for Driggers are scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Hubbard Funeral Home. 4107 Wilkins Ave., Baltimore. Visiting hours will be 3 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. today and tomorrow. He is survived by his parents, four sisters, and a brother.
Frasier said Driggers’ membership in the fire company was his “first love, “ a fact confirmed by Driggers’ father. “He just liked doing it. “ the father said. “I used to let him go down on the weekends. He would go down Friday and stay until Sunday.
Funeral arrangements for Bauer were not available this morning.
The Baltimore Sun Tuesday December 28, 1976
Arundel fire claims 2nd fireman
Volunteer had died at Sunday’s blaze; 2nd victim was 21
An Anne Arundel county firefighter died yesterday morning at University Hospital from injuries received Sunday in a three-alarm fire in Brooklyn Park in which a 16 year-old volunteer firefighter was killed.
Patrick A. Bauer, 21, of Odenton, died of burns received as he fought the fire alongside George F. Driggers, Jr., who died inside the burning row house.
Mr. Bauer, who had been with the department for 14 months and was unmarried, was apparently trapped in the same burst of flames that killed young Driggers, a Brooklyn Park teenager whose lifelong ambition was to be a volunteer firefighter.
The Driggers was pronounced dead at the scene of the blaze, a row hous in the 200 block West Riverview Avenue. Mr. Bauer was rushed to University Hospital with burns over more than 45 percent of his body. He died about 7:30 a.m. yesterday, hospital officials said.
Mr. Bauer and the Driggers youth had entered the building along with a group of firefighters and were trying to shoot water into the basement of the house, where the fire apparently broke out in the heating system, fire officials said.
It was announced yesterday that a memorial service for the young Driggers will be held at 8 o’clock tonight at the Howard Hubbard Funeral establishment in the 4100 block Wilkens Avenue.
A mass of resurrection will be offered for Mr. Bauer at 10 A.M. Friday at the Resurrection of Our Lord Church, Maryland City.
DEATH NOTICES (28e)
DRIGGERS
Suddenly, on December 26, 1976, George F. Jr. of Brooklyn Park, beloved son of Dolores V. Evans and George F. Driggers, Sr., brother of Constance Burnham, Patricia Evans, Stephanie, Theresa, Denise, and Daryl Driggers and grandson of the late Loretta E. Driggers.
Mr. Driggers rest at the Howard H. Hubbard Funeral Home Inc. 4107 Wilkens Avenue. Relatives and friends are invited to attend services on Wednesday at 11 A.M.. Internment Meadowridge Memorial Park. The family will receive friends on Monday and Tuesday from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P.M.
Evening Capital 29 December 1976
Our Say
16 is too young to fight fires
A 16 YEAR-OLD volunteer fireman and a 21 year-old paid fireman died in a tragic fire early Monday morning in Brooklyn near the Baltimore City line.
Many people today – and count us among them – are asking: Should a 16 year-old be allowed to fight fires?
Frankly, we do not think so. Furthermore, we do not think a firefighter of any age, paid or volunteer, should be allowed to fight fires without adequate training.
George F. Driggers Jr., the 16 year-old who perished in Monday’s fire, had joined the Ferndale Volunteer Fire Company on June 12, his 16th birthday. He was given training at the Ferndale station, but had no formal training by the county fire department.
County Executive Robert Pascal already has said that he will ask the 25 volunteer companies in the county to speed up development of minimum training standards.
Pascal and representatives of the volunteer companies met last month to discuss training procedures, but no action has been taken.
It is unfortunate that a death occurred before new regulations were formalized.
Training certainly is needed, but furthermore we strongly feel that a minimum age of 18 should be set for firemen. This year’s General Assembly should change the current minimum of 16.
Evening Capital Tuesday December 28, 1976
Upgraded fire training pushed
In wake of volunteer’s death
By DOUG STRUCK Staff Writer
Reacting to the death on Sunday of a 16 year-old volunteer fireman. County Executive Robert A. Pascal will ask the 25 volunteer fire companies to speed up development of minimum training standards, a county spokesman said today.
Pascal will ask the volunteer companies to “agree to a basic standard training policy for all the volunteers before they ride those truck,” the spokesman said.
Sixteen year-old George F. Driggers, Jr. and a paid fireman, Patrick A Bauer, 21 died while fighting a Brooklyn row house fire early Sunday.
Driggers who joined the Ferndale Volunteer Fire Company on his birthday June 12, had received no formal training from the county fire department.
Richard Wade, and aide to Pascal, said yesterday that the training standards for volunteer firemen are set by each volunteer company and “vary widely” around the county.
“We can’t underrate the contribution of the volunteers to the fire service here,” Wade said. But he said it is “illogical and senseless” to allow volunteers to fight fires without formal training.
Wade said Pascal had met with the volunteer chiefs last month, and had discussed training standards. But “this incident gives the matter new importance,” and Pascal wants the chiefs to give priority to developing basic standards, Wade said.
There are about 800 volunteers in the county, although many no longer actively fight fires, according to fire department figures. There are 333 paid firemen.
Driggers would have been required to undergo training at the Millersville fire headquarters by next June according to Ferndale company President Gordon F. King.
In the meantime, he was given training “here at the station” and responded to fires with the other volunteers.
“I think he was trained all right.” King said.
County Fire Administrator Harry W. Klasmeier at first agreed that Driggers’ death was “truly not related to training. People with more experience lose their lives fighting fires.” He later said he would
deny” reaching that conclusion, however.
Klasmeier, who is in charge of the paid firemen but not the volunteers, said he would not comment on whether he felt the 16 year-old age limits for volunteer companies is too low. Paid firemen must be 18 years old
The Lieutenant in charge of the operations at the fatal fire had said he thought Driggers should not have been permitted to go into the burning house because “he was too young.”
Thomas C. Frasher, the vice president of the Ferndale company, disagreed, “I don’t see that much difference in one or two years,” he said. “Most of these young men are bright and alert.”
“Most of the men who are now fighting fires (on the paid county force) started out as volunteers at age 16,” he said.
Driggers will be buried Wednesday, and Bauer will be buried Friday. Klasmeier said both will receive a full escort from firemen.
Services for Bauer will begin at 10 a.m. Friday at the Church of Resurrection on Brock Bridge Road in Laurel. Visiting hours will be from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 p.m. tomorrow and Thursday at the Donaldson Funeral Home at 313 Talbot Ave., Laurel.
Services for Driggers will begin tomorrow at 11 a.m. at the Hubbard Funeral Home at 4107 Wilkins Ave., Baltimore. Visiting hours will be 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 tonight at the funeral home.
Klasmeier refused to comment on complaints by Lt. Donald Gibson, who was the first officer at the fatal fire Sunday, that there are too few officers to direct operations at major fires in the county.
Gibson had said he did not know Driggers and several other firemen were inside the burning building because he was trying to direct both paid and volunteer companies arriving on the scene. “There’s no control,” he charged.
“I know nothing about that,” Klasmeier said.
Wade said a task force appointed earlier by Pascal to study the county’s fire fighting service is expected to make recommendations that “address that very question.”
After refusing to comment, Klasmeier later called the Evening Capital to protest the reference to LT. Gibson in an article yesterday as “the Chief” who directed the attack on the fire.”
Gibson was in charge of the fire fighting operations, but is a lieutenant, not a chief, as the article later noted.
“That is a disgusting, repulsive thing for you to do, ”Kasmeier said angrily. “You’re deliberately trying to make it look like that was me.
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